Ed Shorrock, Director in the Compliance and Regulatory Consulting practice at Duff & Phelps, and William Scott-Gall, Associate Managing Director in the Business Intelligence and Investigations practice at Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps, co-authored an article titled, “Crypto-assets, investigators and the wealth industry.” In the article, Ed and William discuss the pitfalls of using crypto-assets in the wealth management industry.

An extract of the article is below:

Crypto-assets help to disrupt the business of private wealth managers because HNWs invest in them directly without any middlemen. Family offices, however, also invest in them on behalf of the HNWs in wealthy families. What happens when things go wrong?

We have all become increasingly familiar with the trials and tribulations of the crypto world - an initial coin offering (ICO) turning out to be nothing more than an elaborate fraud; an exchange being hacked with empty wallets uncovered in the aftermath; and regulators becoming increasingly agitated over an asset class, which is difficult to explain and understand, let alone regulate.